Author: Serkadis

Ms. Hanson’s report, “Faithless Heathens: Scriptural Economics of Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” carried a title far more provocative than its contents, said the professor who advised her. But it may have given a hint of her career to come, as an officer for the Central Intelligence Agency specializing in hunting down Islamic extremists.

That career was cut short last week: Ms. Hanson was one of seven Americans killed in a suicide bombing at a C.I.A. base in the remote mountains of Afghanistan.
The victims there included the unidentified chief of the post at FOB Chapman, a mother of three young children, as well as two contract employees of Xe (formerly known as Blackwater), and four CIA employees whose families have released their names: Harold E. Brown Jr. of Massachusetts, 37; Scott Michael Roberson of Ohio, 39, a former U.S. Navy Seal; and Jeremy Wise of Arkansas, 35. Brown left behind his college-sweetheart wife and three children. Roberson was a security officer new to the agency, whose wife is due to give birth to their first child next month. Wise, who is survived by a wife and young son, was memorialized in a Facebook posting.

Another slain CIA officer was Elizabeth Hanson, 31, an Illinois native and a 2001 graduate of Colby College. A family friend posted notice of her death to friends on Facebook, describing Hanson as “effervescent” and “vibrant.”

I first saw the somber CIA Memorial Wall and book at the side of Henry “Hank” Crumpton, a legendary former CIA officer. Hank’s almost-mythic reputation has been chronicled in bits and pieces – though usually pseudonymously. He was simply called “Henry” by the 9/11 Commission Report and in Bob Woodward’s “Bush at War,” and “Hank” in others. His full name is Henry A. Crumpton, a wiry Georgian who spent the greatest part of his adult life hidden in the covert world of espionage and counterterrorism in Africa and South Asia.

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Ms. Hanson’s report, “Faithless Heathens: Scriptural Economics of Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” carried a title far more provocative than its contents, said the professor who advised her. But it may have given a hint of her career to come, as an officer for the Central Intelligence Agency specializing in hunting down Islamic extremists.

That career was cut short last week: Ms. Hanson was one of seven Americans killed in a suicide bombing at a C.I.A. base in the remote mountains of Afghanistan.
The victims there included the unidentified chief of the post at FOB Chapman, a mother of three young children, as well as two contract employees of Xe (formerly known as Blackwater), and four CIA employees whose families have released their names: Harold E. Brown Jr. of Massachusetts, 37; Scott Michael Roberson of Ohio, 39, a former U.S. Navy Seal; and Jeremy Wise of Arkansas, 35. Brown left behind his college-sweetheart wife and three children. Roberson was a security officer new to the agency, whose wife is due to give birth to their first child next month. Wise, who is survived by a wife and young son, was memorialized in a Facebook posting.

Another slain CIA officer was Elizabeth Hanson, 31, an Illinois native and a 2001 graduate of Colby College. A family friend posted notice of her death to friends on Facebook, describing Hanson as “effervescent” and “vibrant.”

I first saw the somber CIA Memorial Wall and book at the side of Henry “Hank” Crumpton, a legendary former CIA officer. Hank’s almost-mythic reputation has been chronicled in bits and pieces – though usually pseudonymously. He was simply called “Henry” by the 9/11 Commission Report and in Bob Woodward’s “Bush at War,” and “Hank” in others. His full name is Henry A. Crumpton, a wiry Georgian who spent the greatest part of his adult life hidden in the covert world of espionage and counterterrorism in Africa and South Asia.

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1. Elizabeth Hanson Colby, Elizabeth Hanson Colby College Ms. Hanson’s report, “Faithless Heathens: Scriptural Economics of Judaism, Christianity…
2. Elizabeth Hanson Cia, Elizabeth Hanson Cia Bombing Ms. Hanson’s report, “Faithless Heathens: Scriptural Economics of Judaism, Christianity…
3. Elizabeth Hanson, Elizabeth Hanson Cia Bombing Ms. Hanson’s report, “Faithless Heathens: Scriptural Economics of Judaism, Christianity…

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A confirmed outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in South Korea, has prompted officials to quarantine and slaughter animals to control the spread of the highly contagious viral disease.

Read more of this story »

In a recent speech, Fed Governor Duke spoke very positively about the economic recovery.

There was just one area of concern.

You guessed it: commercial real estate.

Almost since the beginning of the housing collapse, CRE has been the “next shoe to drop.”

And though there have been plenty of bankruptcies and disasters, it hasn’t threatened to take the banking system down.

The problem is that few folks have a good understanding about the true scale of the problem.

But to get some idea of where things stand, the Mortgage Bankers Association has just put out the latest CRE data for the third quarter. We’ve gone through and plucked out a few of the most interesting charts.

Now, see the charts — >

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See Also:

• Fed Governor: Commercial Real Estate Is On The Precipice Of A Meltdown
• Welcome To The Most Depressing Commercial Real Estate Disaster In America
• Commercial Real Estate Index Falls To Lowest Level Since August 2002

As far as functionality is concerned, Microsoft’s wireless Arc keyboard is fairly standard. However, the crazy, warped design is what really makes it stand out.

“The design tenets that we looked to for the Arc Keyboard were simplicity and crisp softness, creating an aesthetic for this product that is casual and sophisticated at the same time,” said Monique Chatterjee, industrial designer for Microsoft Hardware. “We drew our design inspiration directly from the places where we envision this product will be used so it perfectly blends with existing home accessories.”

Kind of looks like they drew their inspiration from hallucinogenic substances, but hey—it could be really comfortable to use. [Microsoft]

In Afghanistan, the Hazaras are a minority population, historically looked down on by the majority populations. Now, they’re experiencing an upswing in prosperity due to better eductational opportunities. Knowledge really is portable wealth:

The Hazara resurgence is not so geographically concentrated. The principal Hazara provinces, while relatively safe, remain impoverished and, their leaders complain, are bypassed by the foreign aid sent to Pashtun areas as a carrot to lure people from the insurgency.

Instead, it is a revival built largely on education, an asset Hazaras could carry with them during their years as refugees.

“With education you can take everything you want,” says Qasim, one of Mustafa’s classmates, a 15-year-old Hazara who moved to Kabul, the Afghan capital, from the northern city of Kunduz five years ago because his parents wanted better-educated children.

The old Afghan rulers “wanted to e xploit Hazara people, and they didn’t want us to become leaders in this country or to improve,” he said. But that will change. “By studying we can dictate our future.”

It’s worth noting that this emphasis on education as a path to power and success mirrors that of any number of minority populations, religious or ethnic, in Western civilization.

El que fué máximo responsable de Renault F1, Flavio Briatore, acaba de afirmar que por el momento no tiene ninguna prisa por volver a la Fórmula 1. Estas declaraciones se recogian poco después del anunció que hacia el tribunal parisino en el que se afirmaba que su sanción impuesta por la FIA fué ilegal y quedaba anulada.

Por otra parte, Briatore comentó que la sanción impuesta por el aquel entonces presidente de la FIA Max Mosley fué “por un Consejo Mundial del deporte del automóvil puesto al servicio de un arreglo de cuentas personal destinado a apartarme de la competición”.

En lo referente a la sentencia afirmó que: “La decisión de hoy tras 18 años de Formula 1 me devuelve la tranquilidad, la dignidad y todo lo que Mosley me había quitado de un modo violento e innoble”. Y concluyó: “Quiero agradecer a vosotros y a todos los que me han apoyado, especialmente a los italianos. Hoy es un gran día, un día de felicidad y lo gozamos”.

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Sony is teaming up with country starlet Taylor Swift.

During the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Wednesday, Howard Stringer — CEO of the electronics giant — introduced the “Love Story” singer as their new global ambassador, explaining that Tayllor will document her travels exclusively on Sony devices. Swift will also front a campaign for the brand’s newest digital camera, which is being released to compete with Cisco’s popular Flip cam.

China and the U.S. have quietly been engaged in a steel-related trade war — though for the most part the various tariffs and levies have involed lesser steel products.

Then United States Steel Corporation (X) stepped into the picture, filing a “critical circumstances” allegation against China over tubular steel products.

PR Newswire: United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:  X), along with other petitioning parties in ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations relating to seamless standard, line and pressure pipe from China, announced today that it was making an allegation of “critical circumstances” in the proceeding. In response to a surge of imports entering the market after the filing of these cases in September 2009, the petitioners are seeking to have remedial duties assessed on certain imports that entered the United States after the filing of petitions, but prior to the time in which duties are normally assessed.

In antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, remedial duties are normally assessed as of the date of an affirmative preliminary determination of unfair trade at the Department of Commerce. Under U.S. and international law, however, duties can be assessed on imports that entered the U.S. market up to 90 days prior to such a determination where evidence exists that foreign producers surged into the market in an attempt to avoid duties.

In the present case, Chinese imports of seamless standard, line and pressure pipe increased by more than 290 percent in the three months after the filing of petitions, as compared to the three months prior to the filing. If the petitioners are successful in achieving a finding of critical circumstances, remedial duties could be assessed on imports entering the market within 90 days prior to the publication of the preliminary countervailing duty determination in this proceeding. The Department of Commerce is currently scheduled to make its preliminary determination on Feb. 16, 2010.

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See Also:

• Our New Steel Duties On China Are Really A Tax On American Businesses
• China Has More Idle Steel Capacity Than Japanese And Korean Production Combined
• China Steel Prices Nose Dive

Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today named Mark Miller, chairman, president, and CEO of Stericycle Inc. as its 2009 CEO of the Year.

Morningstar’s annual award recognizes a chief executive who exhibits exemplary corporate stewardship, demonstrates independent thinking, creates lasting value for shareholders, and has put his or her stamp on an industry.

Stericycle is a medical waste disposal firm that provides business and consulting services to customers worldwide. Based in Lake Forest, Ill., the company has operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Romania.

“With such an eclectic group of nominees this year, we’re proud to present the award to Mark Miller, whose entrepreneurial spirit and personal sacrifices helped Stericycle become the industry titan it is today,” said Paul Larson, equities strategist and editor of Morningstar StockInvestor.

“When Miller took over the financially strapped company in 1992 after a 16-year career at Abbott Laboratories, he took a 50 percent pay cut, mortgaged his home, and cashed out his retirement account to keep the firm afloat.

Although the company didn’t post a material profit for another five years, this difficult start emphasizes the managerial skill Miller exercised to transform the company in a relatively short span of time.”

Miller has deftly guided Stericycle during his tenure at the firm:

• By shifting the company’s focus from large hospitals to smaller, higher-margin customers, earnings per share have compounded at 32 percent annually; revenue and operating income have seen a 16 percent compound annual growth rate; operating profit has reached more than $300 million over the past 12 months; and the company is currently generating free cash flow at an annual rate in excess of $225 million.
• Stericycle has acquired more than 170 companies since 1993 and opted to bundle traditional medical waste disposal services with expanded offerings including OSHA compliance training, safety product sales, and pharmaceutical recall and retrieval services. These moves have solidified the company’s dominance of this small, but profitable, industry.
• The company’s growing 440,000 customer base is a far cry from the 12 customers Stericycle had when Miller took the reins.
• In addition to posting 10-year annualized returns of 28 percent, the firm’s diversified and essential business model has been largely unaffected by the recent market downturn, making Stericycle a recession-resistant investment.

Morningstar considers Stericycle to have a wide economic moat–possessing a set of sustainable competitive advantages–because of its uncontested scale, its low-cost advantage, and the industry’s high barriers to entry.

The company has established a sound reputation for remaining in compliance with stringent government disposal guidelines and has secured an edge over competitors by patenting environmentally friendly electro-thermal deactivation (ETD) treatment technology.

These factors helped the company reach sales of more than $1 billion in 2008 and, along with the company’s corporate stewardship practices, keep it well positioned for future growth.

Executives receive a majority of their compensation in the form of stock and other long-term incentives, and all executives are required to have equity ownership equal to three to five times their base salary, depending on years of service.

“Miller manages Stericycle with an eye to the future. He’s been willing to part with unprofitable businesses and forego higher revenue in an effort to increase profitability and returns on capital, which we think proves his focus on shareholder value,” Larson added.

“Miller’s offer to pay any fines for customers found in violation of OSHA’s blood-born pathogens standards demonstrates his belief in Stericycle’s value proposition, which employees also embrace.

Employee equity in the company has created more than 30 millionaires over the years.

In fact, Stericycle’s compensation structure is so attuned to long-term value creation and long-dated incentives that 2008 was the first time in five years that executives received modest increases in base salaries.

Plus, in a decade where major stock indices ended near where they started, common shareholders at Stericycle have enjoyed a total return in excess of tenfold.”

The three other nominees for Morningstar’s 2009 CEO of the Year award were Hunter Harrison of Canadian National Railway; Lonnie Smith of robotic surgery pioneer Intuitive Surgical; and Jim Skinner of McDonald’s.

The Morningstar CEO of the Year award was introduced in January 2000. Winners are chosen by Morningstar stock analysts based on Morningstar’s independent research.

For Morningstar’s article about the winner, go to: morningstar.com/goto/ceo2009.

For the complete list of past winners, go to: corporate.morningstar.com/CEOhalloffame.

About Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

The company offers an extensive line of Internet, software, and print-based products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions.

Morningstar provides data on more than 325,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets.

The company has operations in 20 countries and minority ownership positions in companies based in two other countries.

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Admission is open to NRI / FOREIGN CATEGORY. Selection will be based on the following procedure.

Selection is purely on the basis of merit. Only after the confirmation of admission, the candidate can send the DD for 1000 USD [non-refundable deposit]. The balance fee can be paid or before 31st May 2010 on receipt of the Provisional Admission letter.
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Filed under: Sedan, Marketing/Advertising, Hyundai, Luxury, South Korea

Hyundai spokesman Dan Bedore has confirmed to Autoblog that while a version of its home-market Equus is on the way to North America in 2010, the Korean automaker still hasn’t decided what the car will be named when it arrives. The high-end sedan may carry the horse-inspired KDM appellation, or perhaps even its Middle East moniker, Centennial, but other nameplates remain under discussion. And although Bedore declined to offer any specific possibilities, when pressed, he did admit that the company hasn’t ruled out anything with the word “Genesis” in its title, a move that would seemingly be appropriate given that the model has more than a few Genesis Sedan genes in its genetic blueprint. Such a strategy would also seem to be consistent with a rumored plan to separate Hyundai’s pricier offerings within brand showrooms. Genesis Prestige or Genesis Supremacy, anyone?

The rear-drive, V8 luxury sedan is on track for arrival in the second half of this year, and while it will be essentially identical to the Korean Equus, small visual differences like alloy wheel patterns and perhaps the absence of the domestic car’s prominent hood ornament (shown above) are also likely. No word yet on specific changes to the car’s underpinnings, but Bedore tells us that we “can expect some adjustments to things like suspension damping and steering tuning for the U.S. market.”

A Korean-spec Equus will be on display at next week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit, but no further announcements regarding the car are scheduled.

Hyundai Equus on track for States in 2010, name still undecided originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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France is once again leading the way with a new proposal to advance the state of the Internet after the very popular, and apparently delayed, ‘three strikes’ law. A report presented to the French officials suggests a great way of helping the misfortune news publishers and the music industry, which just can’t seem to be raking in the kind of revenue they’ve been used to, by taxing online advertising. The report claims that companies like Google, Microsoft or Yahoo shouldn’t be able to profit from the advertising they sell while the poor content creators can hardly make ends meet. And if that doesn’t cut it, ISPs should also pay based on their traffic.

The French government, known for its innovative solutions and practical approaches to solving this nefarious problem, represented by its culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand put together a crack team to come up with a plan. Dubbed the Zelnik Mission, the group was formed by Patrick Zelnik, who also lent his name, a former music executive at Polydor and Virgin France currently CEO of independent music label Naïve, Guillaume Cerutti CEO of Sotheby’s France and former culture minister Jacques Toubon.

The team now presented their proposals to the French government and isn’t trying to hide that some of the more controversial pro… (read more)

For an extended frequency range, lower distortion, enhanced clarity and transparency, the 2010 Acura ZDX features the most advanced ELS Surround Premium Audio System yet, developed by Acura and Panasonic engineers.

The audio system boasts 435 watts of power through a total of 10 speakers, comprising titanium dome tweeters, an array of 6.7-inch Super Dynamic Range mid-range and bass drivers, and a downward-firing 8-inch diameter subwoofer with its own 100-watt PWM amplifier that e… (read more)

Christmas was far better than expected, despite the snowstorms in the U.S. Retailers are getting excited, with many raising their forecasts as a result.

Reuters: Based on reports of 30 retailers tracked by Thomson Reuters Data, 71 percent posted better-than-expected sales results for stores open at least a year in December, the most important month in the calendar for the sector. Retailers overall posted a 2.9 percent increase, exceeding the 2 percent rise analysts were expecting and marking the best performance since a 3.4 percent gain in April 2008, according to Thomson Reuters Data.

Graphic below taken from the WSJ:

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See Also:

• Why The Tough November For Retail Doesn’t Mean A Bad December
• Surprise! U.S. Consumers Are Crawling Back Up The Ropes
• Retail Sales: It Really Was Gasoline!

While not a huge surprise, it’s worth discussing just how bad an idea it was for Warner Bros. Studios to get Netflix to delay renting DVDs of its movies for 28 days in order to offer up more streaming content. To recap, the very, very, very confused movie studios seem to think that the way to deal with increasing competition is to just add more windows to releases — and one way to do that is to delay when you can rent a movie. In the studios’ incredibly short-sighted thinking, they believe this will make more people buy DVDs — the one area of the movie business that has been on the decline of late. At the same time, the studios have been pissed off at Netflix for routing around them and getting rights to stream movies from Starz, and as such, have been denying requests to stream more movies.

So, the compromise is getting Netflix to delay the rentals in exchange for more streaming content.

It’s hard to express just how bad an idea this is for Warner Bros., and how far out of touch with their customers they must be to think this makes any sense from a business standpoint. What they are saying is that they are not going to give in to customer demand and offer them what they want, but actually make it more difficult, more annoying and more confusing for them to get what they want — and (at the same time!) screwing up basic marketing plans as well. Now, when movies are released on DVD and the large group of people who prefers renting to buying goes online to their Netflix account to do so, they won’t be able to. Four weeks later, they’ll be looking for something else. And, for those who simply want to see it right away, they’re now more likely to get it in an unauthorized manner.

Under what set of logic would it ever make sense to give the customer less of what they want in an era when increased competition from other sources is causing them to already wonder if they should buy your product?

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